


A Red Letter Day

by Hallowed_Skies



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ardyn is just along for the ride, M/M, Prompto is so done, Verstael is a bad bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29607609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hallowed_Skies/pseuds/Hallowed_Skies
Summary: Verstael had two loves. His test-tube baby and his scourge-ridden husband. Targetting either of those two things could be dangerous for a person's health but targeting both? Well, Niflheim was about to have a red letter day because Verstael was going to have to cut a bitch.
Relationships: Verstael Besithia/Ardyn Izunia
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	A Red Letter Day

**Author's Note:**

> Because you can't tell me that young Verstael doesn't look like the type who would put his boot down someone's throat.

Watching the propaganda transmissions from Niflheim had never been one of Regis' favourite activities.

He hated seeing Aldercapt's smug face as he spewed even more lies. Hated seeing the glamourous dresses and suits that cost more than was acceptable when the man's citizens starved in the streets.

He hated it all, but he also needed the information.

Aldercapt's droning about the Empire's greatness had Regis fighting a yawn…a yawn that he almost choked on when the door to the council room flew open.

At his podium, Aldercapt faltered, his words dying, leaving behind a heavy silence as the camera panned to the figure in the doorway. The lens's swing was just quick enough to catch three of the Emperor's five personal guards fall, red blossoming like blooming flowers on their foreheads.

The view finally settled on the stranger, and Regis squinted because that looked a hell of a lot like Niflheim's young Research Chief.

Verstael Besithia bared his teeth at the camera in a savage grin.

His left hand held a gun while his right was curled under the bottom of a young boy who looked too much like the man holding him for it to be mere coincidence.

"Apologies for interrupting your important broadcast," Verstael sneered, his gaze moving to something off-screen and faster than Regis could track, one of the councillors slumped over, a concealed gun clattering onto the table in front of the body.

Verstael wrinkled his nose. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, and I'd advise you all to sit down and shut up unless you want to join your fallen comrade, I do apologize. But you see, I woke up in a bit of a mood.”

“I woke to an empty bed and my husband and child missing,” Verstael continued after a pause. “At first, I blamed Lucis because who else would be so brave? Who else would think themselves above my retaliation? Who else would put their hands on my fucking family?!”

The roar that left Verstael’s throat was punctuated by two gunshots that removed the last two Emperor’s guards.

“Then I found out that I’d been looking in the wrong place. I was searching for a wolf at my door and not a snake in my bed.”

“And as the person who is so often in his bed, I was rather put out by the discovery as well,” a new voice chimed in, and Regis frowned at the towering goliath of a man who seemed to step from thin air into a place behind Verstael. There was something familiar about him, something that Regis couldn’t quite put his finger on before his attention swayed back to the pale blond staring down the leader of his nation with a child on his hip.

“To think that I have done all I have so that Niflheim would have a chance only for you to stab me in the back,” Verstael hissed, his eyes locked on the pale Emperor.

“Guards!” Aldercapt shouted, and the room was suddenly flooded with bodies, bodies that fell under weapons that glittered like Regis’ own magic.

The bodies were still falling when Verstael flung his gun right at Aldercapt.

The Emperor stumbled back as the Research Chief materialized into the space between him and the podium, gun pressed beneath Aldercapt’s chin.

“This is a fucking red letter day for Niflheim. You put your hands on the two things I would burn this world for, and I’m going to send a message to every single one of the idiots who convinced you that you weren’t signing your death sentence. ” Verstael snarled, and even as the Emperor opened his mouth, the crack of a shot rang out like a bell.

The world seemed to slow as Aldercapt fell.

Verstael was still for a moment even as his companion joined him at the podium, peering down at the body.

“Fucking!” a little voice piped up, and the expression that the camera captured as the man stared down at his child was one Regis had never expected to see on Verstael Besithia’s face.

“Well, I do believe that makes you Emperor by conquest,” the taller man noted gleefully, and Verstael pinched his nose.

“Ardyn, please,” he muttered, turning to face the podium.

He squinted at the cameras as if just noticing their presence.

“I suppose you’re all waiting for some sort of a speech?” he sighed, ignoring the way his son was reaching for the microphones. “Niflheim has been weakened, not by our enemies but by our own actions. We’ve become complacent, waiting for wars and strife to win us glory. And once upon a time, I believed that was the proper way but what has conflict brought us except suffering? We were great once, and we can be great again but only by living up to our strengths. We have the technology and the intelligence to bring the world to its knees, which is what I’ll make sure that we achieve. All I ask is that people stop fucking with my family.”

“What about Lucis?” One of the councillors piped up, and Verstael glowered at the man.

“Beneath me,” he spat. “Why should I waste energy fighting barbarians who worship a glowing crystal? I have all the magic I need in this idiot, and it still took me years to fix him,” he gestured at his husband, who just beamed at the cameras. “Why the hell would I want to rule a nation of like-minded idiots? Do you know how many hours it takes to run my labs? To produce food, so you don’t starve?” he squinted at the man. “Not that you seem to be starving.”

Regis would have been offended at the slight against his people if he wasn’t so busy grinning because this was the turning of tides. He could feel it in his bones.

“And Tenebrae?” someone else demanded as if Verstael hadn’t just kickstarted a bloody coup mere moments before. “The oracles…”

“The oracles can suck my…”

The rest of the man’s words were muffled by the large hand covering his mouth.

“I do believe we should take a break. My husband has been under a lot of stress today, and before we alienate potential allies…” that drew an enraged shriek from behind his hand. “…we should all try to calm down and think about things.”

The microphones picked up a muffled huff, and when Ardyn removed his hand, Verstael shot him a dirty look.

Before either of them could say another word, the little boy finally managed to detach the closest mic and promptly tried to eat it.

The thing was quickly snatched away by a shimmer of light, leaving the child staring at his empty hand.

He blinked twice before frowning.

“Fuck!” he muttered, a second before the transmission cut out, and Regis didn’t even try to stop the cackle that escaped him.

A red letter day, indeed.


End file.
